


No Days Off

by Antiseptic_Beauty



Category: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six (Video Games)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-11
Updated: 2018-03-11
Packaged: 2019-03-29 16:54:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13931283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Antiseptic_Beauty/pseuds/Antiseptic_Beauty
Summary: Thermite and Hibana get a moment to themselves.





	No Days Off

Yumiko stands in an empty room within Hereford's expansive barracks, her slender fingers wrapped around a warm half-cup of coffee. It's late, and she probably shouldn't be drinking caffeine, but she thought she' d treat herself after a long day of tinkering with R&D. Everybody else is either still working or downstairs, kicking back in the pool room or their dorms - she finds herself questioning why she's isolated herself here. She supposes she needs the peace and quiet.

When the door opens, she already knows who it is before she turns to lay her eyes on him. She knew he'd come looking for her. These days, it seems like they spend as much time as possible in each other's company, whether working together on projects or otherwise. She's certain other people are starting to notice.

Still, she can't help the smile that she beams in Jordan's direction. With Rainbow's hectic schedule, it's not often they get a moment to themselves. He returns a brief smile before letting out a heavy sigh and collapsing into a plastic chair, running a scarred hand through his sweat-ridden hair.

"Christ... what a fuckin' day..."

The comment doesn't come as a surprise at all. She knows he's been under a lot of stress lately. He'd been picked by Baker to lead a mock hostage rescue exercise in one of Hereford's famed killhouses, using non-lethal marker rounds and grenades against live opponents. It's as close to the real thing as Rainbow can get, and instrumental in evaluating the combat readiness of the international operators that Six has carefully assembled.

In short, there's little toleration for slip-ups.

"I hear 'Operation Black Sun' didn't go exactly as planned," Yumiko says.

"That's puttin' it mildly," Trace begins. "Kessikbayev, the Russian -"

"Uzbek," the Japanese woman corrects.

Jordan rolls his eyes. "Uzbek - he tries to angle a grenade at a guy standing a few meters away from the hostage. I fuckin' told him not to, but he did it anyway."

"And did he pull it off?"

"'Course he did, but you and I both know that's not the point. Bastard only cares about the end result - whether we got the hostage out alive or not. Everything else is just details to him."

"I guess they do things different in the Spetsnaz..."

"Yeah, no shit," Trace states, with just a hint of bitterness in his voice. "Six took one heck of a political gamble getting the Russians to even agree to this whole thing. Never would've happened back in Clark's day."

He goes on for a few more minutes while Yumiko walks over to the sink in the corner of the room, back turned to him, idly washing her cup. She's trying to distract herself and she knows it.

"Anyway, enough about me," he says suddenly, his words are punctuated by a slight groan as he works himself out of his chair and back onto his feet. "How's your day been?"

She tenses suddenly as she feels his rough hands wrap around her waist, thumbs gently moving in little circles. If they were anywhere else, she'd probably melt right into his arms and let him do whatever he wanted, and more.

But right now, they're on base, and there are certain rules and regulations they are expected to abide by.

"Jordan-!" she gasps in a hushed tone.

The Texan man feigns offence. "What, you're not gonna tell me you hate the scars now, are you?"

"N-no, you idiot," she stutters, visibly flustered. "What if somebody comes in?"

He grins. "Then we're gonna have a lot of explaining to do..."

"Seriously, Jordan!"

"Relax, Yumi. There's nobody else around..."

His words are obviously hollow - there's no telling if or when they could be suddenly interrupted by a colleague or worse, a commanding officer. But she can't help but feel slightly reassured, hearing them come from _his_ lips, in _his_ voice, while he holds her in _his_ arms. She feels herself relax slightly, letting out a little sigh as she lets him move his hand from her side to the back of her neck, stroking his fingers through her thick black hair.

"God, you're so beautiful..."

His words are whispered straight into her ear, and she feels her cheeks plunge into a deep crimson. It's been too long since they've shared any intimacy, and in that moment she wants nothing more than to surrender herself entirely to him. But the rational part of her mind kicks in, and she stops herself from getting carried away. 

Freeing herself from his arms, she turns around looks up into his eyes.

"Are you sure they... don't know?"

Jordan gives her a look. It's not the first time she's asked this question.

"I checked the files myself. As far as the top brass knows, we worked together on one project and got pally with each other. That's it. Harmless."

"And you never thought to mention-"

He doesn't let her finish. "Eh, what they don't know can't hurt 'em. Don't ask, don't tell, right?"

Yumiko looks down at her feet, running her left hand restlessly up and down her right forearm. Something else has been gnawing at her for a while.

"Be honest with me, Jordan..." she finally manages, raising her eyes to meet with his. "Did you put in a recommendation for me?"

"What? No! I mean, I might've done. So what?"

She folds her arms and raises an accusatory eyebrow at him.

"Come on, Yumi, how could I not? You and I, we work well together," he confesses, cursing himself internally. He's passed the most rigorous R2I training with flying colors, but as soon as she looks at him with those eyes... 

"Besides," he continues, "you were already on their watchlist. Six would've selected you anyway. I was just making sure it happened..."

_Already on their watchlist..._

"You're better than you think you are, Yumiko. I sure as Hell didn't vouch for you just 'cause I like you. You'd be here even if I hadn't made the cut."

She feels her cheeks warm again. His praise still flusters her, even all these years since they first met.

"Still," she says, stubbornly refusing to concede, "It wasn't for you to decide, you asshole."

She betrays her words as she steps back towards Jordan, falling into his arms again. This time, she returns the embrace, standing on the tips of her toes to guide her mouth up towards his, and for just a brief moment, their lips meet.

He chuckles. "Admit it, you're glad I did."

She won't admit it, but she really is.


End file.
